Katie Marie

Sobriety Test

 

 

“What awful racket is this?” I asked, raising my voice over the stereo.

 

“It’s Howling Moon’s latest song, James gave me a copy,” Holly shouted back at me.

 

“You know Holly, just because James’ band sings a song doesn’t mean we all want to hear it,” Amy leaned forward from the back seat and turned the volume down.

 

“Thank you,” I said.

 

“It wasn’t that bad,” Holly muttered. “I liked it.”

 

“Don’t sulk,” Amy said. “After the fuss you made about Lucy being extra careful with James’ van you probably shouldn’t deafen her. It might effect her driving.”

 

“Between that noise and this rain it’s not the best driving conditions,” I said keeping my eyes on the road. It had started raining when we left the city, a light patter that had rapidly evolved into a torrent. The wind had picked up, steadily pushing us to the left. The van felt oversized and clumsy.

 

“Damn van always feels huge tome. The wind isn’t helping.”

 

“What you say?” Amy said.

 

“Nothing, just regretted my decision of letting James put me on the insurance.” I said.

 

“But the van has been super useful,” Holly said. “Like when we had moved. I hated student housing, the town house is way better.”

 

“O.k. I said. “One time this van has been useful. But you know aw well as I do that the only reason James put me on the insurance was so I could be the official chauffer for Howling Moon.”

 

“But if we didn’t have the van we couldn’t go shopping!” Chloe piped up. I rolled my eyes and tried to tone out Amy, Chloe and Sam all shouting and giggling in the back. Holly was sulking in the passenger seat but at least she was quiet. These damn roads were a pain, every time I turned a bend another loomed before me. I suppose some might have enjoyed it, even I might have in my little car but not in this stupidly oversized van.

 

“Lucy,” Sam leaned forward, misjudged the distance and fell into the back of my seat jolting me forwards.

 

“Chloe,” I called. “Can you please put a seatbelt on Sam?”

 

“Why?” Chloe said, her words slurring a little.

 

“Because it was you who convinced her that buy-one-get-one-free cocktails were a good idea,” I said,  “and I’d rather not end up in a ditch because Sam was arsing about.” Chloe grumbled under her breath but managed to pull Sam back, I relaxed when I heard the click of the seatbelt.

 

“Lucy,” Sam giggled. “Can we have the radio?”

 

“Oh no!” Holly said, snapping out of her sulk. She turned around. “You’re not moaning about Howling Moon then putting on bloody pop music.” I looked at her for a brief moment before looking back at the road. The puddles were starting to become larger, covering the road in places.

 

“I’ve got my i-Pod,” Chloe said.

 

“This van’s a bazillion years old,” I said. “It’s not going to work with your i-pod.”

 

“Just go to sleep, Sam,” Holly said turing back. “The amount you had you’ll pass out soon anyway.”

 

“I’m not drunk,” Sam bellowed and surged forward, thankfully the seatbelt kept her from causing any problems.

 

“Watch it,” Amy snapped. “You're putting your feet on my bags.”

 

“It’s only books,” Sam argued.

 

“And?” Amy said. “Just because I can appreciate things that are not clothes and cocktails.”

 

“Amy,” Holly said. “Don’t argue with her when she’s like this, it’s a waste of time.” I blinked when I saw a flash of blue and glanced into the side mirror of the van. It was dark out now; we’d lost the light when we’d left the city. I watched the side mirror for a moments. I had been certain I had seen a flash of blue.

 

“Oh shit,” I muttered when I saw it again.

 

“What is it?” Holly asked.

 

“I think I’m being flashed,” I muttered. Sam burst into laughter, Holly just looked confused. “Police,” I said. “They want me to pull over.” I started slowing the van down, and pulled over, coming to a stop gradually.

 

“Why oh shit?” Holly said as we waited. “We’re not doing anything wrong.”

 

“Must have done something,” I said. “The winds been pushing me around, maybe i was swaying a little.” The policeman pulled in ahead of us. He was on a motorbike.

 

“That’s weird,” Holly said as we watched him slowly get off the bike. “Look at his bike.” 

 

“I know,” I said. “This weather is hard enough for cars to drive in; it’s a death sentence for motorbikes.”

 

“No, look at his bike, it looks like its a million years old,” Holly said looking at me. “And he’s not got any high-vis stuff on. Just a coat.”

 

“Oh yeah,” I hadn’t even realised until Holly pointed it out. “He’s got a death wish.” The policeman in question took off his helmet and swaggered towards the van, seemingly unaware of the wind and the rain. I rolled down the window.

 

“Step out of the van,” he said when I went to hand him my licence and the insurance papers. I frowned but opened the door.

 

“Hang on a minute,” Holly said, putting a hand on my shoulder. “Why?”

 

“Holly, don’t fuss,” I snapped.

 

“No, I don’t like this,” Holly said firmly. “He’s got no uniform, and an ancient bike. I don’t like it. Are you even a real cop?”

 

“How dare you,” the policeman reached into his breast pocket and pulled out an ID. He flashed it at us and put it away. Holly grunted, irritated but didn’t argue. To be entirely honest even if he had showed us the ID slowly I wouldn’t have been able to tell if it was real or not. I stepped out of the van into the rain.

 

“Now then,” the policeman said. “Raise your right leg.” I frowned but did as he asked. I wobbled as the wind hit me but managed to keep my balance. The policeman made an unsatisfied sound. “Walk in a straight line, heal to toe to the end of the van and back.”

 

I walked slowly as he asked, making sure my heal hit my toe every small step. I could hear the girls in the van talking. I was soaked through by the time I made it to the end of the van and shivering by the time I was half way back.

 

“She’s not been drinking,” Holly leaned out the driver side window and said. “Let her back in she’s getting soaked.”

 

“I can smell alcohol,” the policeman said, staring right at me. I flinched, he looked furious. I’d seen the TV show ‘Cops’ a few times and never had they seemed angry at the drunk drivers they pulled over. But that was America and this was England. This policeman looked like he might start screaming at me any moment.

 

“That’s them in the back,” Holly said. “Look just breath test her and let us go.”

 

“Breath...” the policeman said frowning.

 

“Yeah, Lucy’s always the designated driver,” I heard Sam shout from the back. “Cause she’s got a fat liver.”

 

“Fatty liver disease you twit,” Amy snapped. I felt myself blush despite the cold. The policeman was staring at me.

 

“I had it since I was a kid,” I muttered feeling like he was asking for an explanation. “So yeah, I don’t drink.”

 

“I don’t believe you.” The policeman said quietly. “You were swerving all over the road.”

 

“No I wasn’t,” I snapped before I could help myself. “It’s windy and the van is huge, it’s like driving something with a sail. That’s why I was going so slowly.”

 

“I’m not letting another drunk get away with murder,” the policeman said coming towards me. “I know what you kids are like, come down here for a couple of years, drink yourselves stupid and walk out with a degree. Well I’m not having it.” He stopped inches away from me.

 

“I’m not drunk,” I said leaning away from him. His breath felt cold.

 

“I am!” Sam laughed.

 

“Shut up, Sam.” Holly said and stepped out of the van, and started round towards us.

 

“Get back in the van,” the policeman barked. Holly stood her ground.

 

“No, you’ve got no reason to stop us and no reason to keep us here, she’s done your stupid tests, she’s not drunk. You’re refusing to breath test her so you’ve got no grounds for this harassment.” Holly reached around him and grabbed me. I fought against her; I didn’t want to get arrested for resisting a police officer.

 

“Holly, stop it.” I said.

 

“No, Lucy, get in the van before you catch your death.” Holly said. “He can’t do this.” A radio squealed from the policeman’s waist.

 

“Miles Green,” he said lifting the radio. I frowned; normally on TV shows they said a bunch of code words. The radio sounded like just static to me but the policeman nodded to himself. “Ok, I’m on my way.” He glared at me and Holly. “You got real lucky,” he said and turned back to his bike.

 

Holly and I climbed back into the van and watched him drive off, disappearing into the dark.

 

“That was the weirdest thing ever,” Amy said leaning forwards. “Nothing like on TV.”

 

“He was so angry,” I whispered shivering. Holly leaned forward and turned the heat right up.

 

“He wasn’t a cop,” she said. I looked at her. “He can’t have been, he didn’t have a proper bike, he didn’t have a uniform, and he didn’t know procedure at all.”

 

“What and you do?” Chloe said.

 

“No,” Holly turned to face her. “But I do know that they breath test people they think are drunk, when we said about the breathalyser he looked like we were speaking another language.”

 

“Maybe he just didn’t hear,” I muttered.

 

“He didn’t check the licence or the insurance,” Holly said.

 

“They have computers that do that,” Chloe said.

 

“In the cars they check the licence plate to see if the car’s insured yeah, but Lucy might have been anyone. Besides I sure as hell didn’t see a computer on that bike.” Holly said her voice get more and more angry as she went on. “He had no reason to pull us over and even if he did once he’d seen us and it obvious Lucy is sober he should have let us go not make her prance about in the bloody rain and shout at us.”

 

“He was a bit anti-student, wasn’t he,” Chloe said.

 

“He wasn’t a cop,” Holly said. “I’ll bet the rest of this year’s rent on it.”

 

“Don’t you mess with the rent,” I tried to smile, but I was still shaking.

 

“It’s not funny, Lucy,” Holly said quietly. “What if you’d been by yourself? What if he is hanging around out here waiting for women driving themselves?”

 

“What if he’s a murderer?” Sam said and started giggling.

 

“I was thinking more along the lines of sexual assault but he could be,” Holly said. “We don’t know.”

 

“What’s your point,” I said holding my stomach. The idea that I could have been by myself with him made me feel nauseous.

 

“We’ve got to do something,” Chloe said.

 

“Like what?” Amy snapped. “Chase him down?”

 

“No,” Holly said. “Report him.” I frowned at her as she pulled her mobile out. She hit three buttons and lifted the phone to her ear.

 

“Did you just dial 999?” Chloe said. Holly shook her head.

 

“Hello,” she put her finger in her other ear and frowned. “Hello, can you give me the number for ....hello? Can you hear me, I need the ...” she paused. Amy patted my shoulder I turned to face her.

 

“What if he was a stalker or something?” Amy said.

 

“Lucky there were five of us,” Chloe said.

 

“I don’t know,” I said. “He was creepy sure, but he was angry more than creepy stalker. He was really angry.”

 

“Cause you weren’t alone, he got frustrated.” Chloe shrugged.

 

“I don’t think so,” I said. “He really thought I’d been drinking.”

 

“You’re imagination’s crazy,” Holly said. “I got the number for the local station, his name was Green right?”

 

“Miles Green, yeah.” I said.

 

“Don’t look so worried, if he was a cop then he should not have acted like that and we should report him. If he’s not a cop then we’re letting the police know there’s a nutcase pulling women over pretending to be a cop.”

 

“I suppose,” I said, Holly frowned at me.

 

“Look, suppose he is a nutcase and tomorrow when we get up, put on the news and there’s a story about a woman who was killed or assaulted out here tonight, how would you feel?”

 

“I said o.k., “I snapped. “Look, I know you’re right but it just feels weird. I mean all he did was shout.”

 

“Cause there was five of us,” Amy said. Holly opened the text that direct enquiries had sent her with the number and selected the number.

 

“You might have to give a statement,” she said to me. I nodded. She clicked call and we waited.

 

“Oh ...um, yes hello,” she said after a few moments. “My name’s Holly Mallard and I just had an encounter with one of your officers; or someone I think was impersonating one of your officers.” She went quiet for a few minutes we all waited. “Yes, he called himself Miles Green and he pulled us over said he thought we were drink driving.” She fell quiet again. “Well, he made one of my friends get out of the van by herself and got her to do weird tests and wouldn’t breath test her. He was screaming at us for being drunk drivers when we aren’t. He was extremely hostile and aggressive.”

 

“Just a bit,” Chloe muttered, Amy elbowed her.

 

“Shhh,” she snapped.

 

“Oh, ok I’ll hold,” Holly said.

 

“Well?” Amy said when the hold music blared.

 

“She’s checking the database but she doesn’t recognise the name.” Holly looked at me. “Told you.”

 

“Yeah, alright,” I muttered. The hold music cut off and Holly put the phone back to her ear.

 

“Oh, ok ... um, he was about 6ft maybe, he had a helmet and dark clothes. He was slim, I’m not sure how old.”

 

“Late thirties,” I said.

 

“Late thirties possibly,” Holly repeated to the person on the phone. “He had a really old motorcycle.”

 

“He flashed us,” I said. Sam giggled again. “I mean with the blue light, it’s why I pulled over.”

 

“Oh and he’s got a police light, it’s what made us pull over.” Holly went quiet again. “Ok, yeah. Um sure, we’ll come in tomorrow morning. Oh there is five of us, Me, Lucy, Sam,” she started passing our details through to the person on the phone and I stopped listening. The van was warming up but I was freezing.

 

“Think she’ll lose the signal if I drive?” I asked. Amy nodded.

 

“With this weather and the crappy signal out here, yeah,” she said. I sighed she was probably right. We were smack bang in the middle of nowhere, an hour away from home and half an hour away from the city.

 

“Wanna get take out on the way home?” Chloe said. “I don’t know about you but I really don’t feel like cooking.”

 

“Sure,” I shrugged. “I just want to get home and get into a shower, I’m freezing.”

 

“Alright then,” Amy said. “While you shower we’ll go down to the library and pick up a couple of DVD’s, real girly stuff, Grease, Pretty Woman all that kinda stuff. Have a real girl’s night in.” I snorted.

 

“Just don’t braid my hair o.k.” I smiled. That sounded nice, duvets in the living room, junk food and corny movies, nice and safe and home. Just what I needed after the encounter with whoever Miles Green was..

 

“Ok, thank you,” Holly hung up the phone and let out a long breath. “Well, he wasn’t a cop. They’re going to send word out to people to be careful and get someone out here to look for him.”

 

“We totally saved the day!” Sam said.

 

“Yeah,” I snorted putting the van in gear. “We’re real heroes.”

 

“Well we kind of are,” Amy said.

 

“No,” I said pulling out onto the road. “What we are is very lucky.”

 

“I heard mention of take away?” Holly said snuggling down into the passenger seat and pulling her coat up over her like a blanket.

 

“Yeah, we’ll hit up a drive through, then the plan is corny movie night,” I said.

 

“Corny movie!” Amy snapped. “More like awesome movie.”

 

“She’s going to get Pretty Woman again isn’t she? Holly said smiling at me, she looked tired.

 

“Yup,” I said feeling the mood in the van lighten. It wasn’t quiet as happy as it had been when we left the city but it was as close. I let the feeling of relief sink into me and smiled. 

 

I went to get the van moving but the seat didn’t feel right under me. It was probably the wet clothes but something felt different. I fidgeted and resettled my feet on the accelerator and brake. I frowned when it took me a moment to find the brake.

 

“You ok?” Holly asked. I nodded. “Shaken?”

 

“A little maybe,” I said. I tapped the brake and winced when my foot missed it completely. I jerked and found it again. The shock was enough to set my heart racing.

 

“You ok to drive?” Holly asked.

 

“I’m the only one on the insurance,” I said. “And the only one who hasn’t had a drink.”

 

“I’m alright,” Holly said, I shook my head.

 

“You might feel alright, but you’re over the limit. Besides I’m fine,” I said. Holly didn’t push it. I put my toe on the brake again, not pushing it, just making sure it was where it was supposed to be. It was there, it hadn’t moved. I berated myself internally for thinking something as stupid as the brake actually moving. I let my foot rest on it and tried to relax, but I eased up on the accelerator.

 

“I thought you wanted to get home?” Amy said.

 

“Yeah?” I said.

 

“Well then why are you doing the Sunday driver thing, speed up grandma.”

 

“Just leave it Amy,” Holly said. “I’d rather get home late but in one piece than end up in a ditch because Lucy’s nerves were shot.”

 

“They are not shot,” I muttered putting a little more pressure on the accelerator, the van lurched forward faster than I’d intended.

 

“Nah, you’re obviously fine, you’re always shaking,” Holly raised an eyebrow at me. “Just slow down, alive and slow is better than fast and dead.”

 

“Not if you need to pee it’s not,” Amy muttered.

 

“Should have gone before we left,” Holly said in a singsong voice. Amy snapped something back but I ignored them. Something wasn’t right. I had barely touched the accelerator and we had sped forwards. Now I was pressing on the brake and we weren’t slowing down. I pressed harder and the van slowed a bit but not much considering the force I was putting on the brake.

 

“It’s just the rain,” I muttered.

 

“Huh?” Holly said.

 

“When its wet brakes take longer to take effect,” I muttered and glanced at Holly. “I guess I am a little shaken, my imagination’s running away with me.”

 

“The van ok?” Holly asked. I rolled my eyes.

 

“James’ precious van is fine,” I said.

 

“I didn’t mean that,” Holly said. “I meant is it working ok?”

 

“Oh, yeah, it’s fine.” I said as we passed a sign welcoming us to the last little village between us and home. We approached the only roundabout in the village and I took my foot off the accelerator, pushed down on the clutch and went to press the brake. My foot went down, but the brake didn’t budge.

 

“I was kidding about the fast thing,” Amy said, as we headed towards the roundabout at speed.

 

“Lucy, roundabout!”

 

“What the hell,” I snapped. My foot pushed down hard on the brake pedal, but it still didn’t budge. I lifted my foot and slammed it down as hard as I could, the brake held firm for a moment before giving and going down. The van slowed but not enough. Amy, Chloe and Sam screamed from the back. We swerved around the roundabout, going up on the island in the centre, before banging down again and shooting down the high street. I kept my foot down on the brake but it still took the van a good few moments to come to a complete stop.

 

“What the hell!” Holly snapped as I turned off the engine.

 

“Thank god no one was around for that,” Amy muttered. “Getting arrested for real is not part of the plan.”

 

“Lucy!” Holly said.

 

“I’m sorry,” I said. “The brake wouldn’t go down.”

 

“The brake wouldn’t go down?” Holly said. “What do you mean the brake wouldn’t go down?”

 

“I had my foot on it, but it wasn’t moving. It jammed or stuck or ...I don’t know.” I said. I tested it now and it went down easily. “Feels ok now.”

 

“Let me drive,” Holly said, the anger going out of her voice quickly, i shook my head. “If you’re losing foot pedals then you might as well be drunk.”

 

“No,” I said taking a deep breath, I opened the door.

 

“What are you doing?” Amy said as I stepped out of the van and knelt down putting myself at eye level of the foot pedals.

 

“Checking to see if something hasn’t rolled out of someone’s bag and gone under the bloody brake.” I snapped.

 

“Oh,” Holly said softly. “Yeah that happened once when I was on a school trip, orange under the pedal of the bus, freaked everyone out.”

 

“Well there’s nothing under here,” I said. “Maybe it rolled back.” I climbed back into the van and looked at the girls. “Would you all mind just checking and pick everything up off the floor.” I got the van started again and pulled out. My hands were still shaking.

 

“This has to be the worst drive home ever,” Sam said. There were mutterings of agreement. I didn’t say anything. Something about the van still didn’t feel right to me. I didn’t know what it was. I tapped each pedal in turn, they all felt ok. I fidgeted in the seat trying to get comfortable. The steering felt a little stiff when I tested it. But nothing to explain my sudden feeling of dread.

 

“You look weird,” Holly said. “Maybe we should pull over, call a taxi, and get James to come get the van tomorrow.”

 

“It would cost a fortune,” I muttered. “Besides it’s fine now.”

 

“You said that before you drove over the roundabout,” Holly muttered. I glared at her. “Just take it easy o.k.?” I nodded and kept going. We left the village and headed back into the twisty roads. The steering was stiff, it was becoming a fight to get the van to turn left. It kept pulling to the right. Everyone was quiet now, looking out of windows at the rain as it continued to batter us. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Holly take her phone out.

 

“Signal?” I asked. Holly hummed in agreement. We always got a signal closer to home. We made slow progress, the brake behaved itself but the steering was getting worse. I was starting to turn much earlier to get round the bends and the van was still going wide.

 

“I’m going to be sick,” Sam muttered.

 

“To many cocktails,” Chloe snorted.

 

“Your fault,” Sam said. “But it’s not that, it’s Lucy’s weaving all over the place.”

 

“Make sure you use a bag then,” Holly said. “James will ...” she trailed off.

 

“James will what?” I said as the steering juddered in my hands. I flinched when something clammy brushed my hand. There was nothing there.. “Other than take this to a garage?” I swallowed the lump in my throat.

 

“Oh,” Holly said, glancing at me. “No not that, I just Googled our fake cop. I didn’t expect it to work but I’ve actually found some mention of him in the papers.”

 

“Oh yeah? Got a history of this kind of thing?” Amy said.

 

“What kind of dope give his real name before assaulting someone?” Chloe asked. Amy and Chloe leaned forward.

 

“We don’t know that’s what he was going to do,” I said firmly. “Guys can you not move about too much, the van’s being really weird.”

 

“It’s not him,” Holly said. “Can’t be, but it does seem our mystery man used a fake name and an ironic one.”

 

“What are you on about?” I said.

 

“Well, an officer by the name of Miles Green worked in the area 30 odd years ago. Says here he died in the line of duty,” Holly said. 

 

“Weird,” Amy said. Holly made a surprised noise.

 

“No, if you want weird look at this,” she turned and gave her phone to the girls in the back.

 

“What?” I asked.

 

“Holy crap, that is so strange,” Amy said.

 

“I’ve got goosebumps,” Chloe said.

 

“What is it,” I snapped. I relaxed my grip on the steering wheel and it jerked hard to the right. We swerved, the girls screamed. The van started juddering as it came off the road onto the grass verge. I tightened my grip on the wheel and pulled as hard as I could to the left.  I pulled us back onto the road and swallowed the the bile that had risen up.

 

“Lucy!” Holly snapped at me as I slowed us down again. “What the hell’s going on?”

 

“Bloody things being pulling to the right since we went over the roundabout, it must have got knocked or something,” I snapped back.

 

“What are you talking about?” Holly said.

 

“Look,” I lifted my hands off the wheel, ready to grab it the moment it moved but the van kept going straight. “But,” I said putting my hands on the wheel. “It has been. Hell half the time it feels like someone else is pulling on the wheel.”

 

“Lucy,” Holly frowned at me.

 

“Holly,” I said. “I promise this isn’t me, something is wrong with the van.” Holly let out a long slow breath and nodded.

 

“I’ll tell James to get it checked,” she said. “But I still think you’re too messed up to drive.”

 

“We’re nearly home,” I said. “It’ll be ...”

 

“Don’t say it’ll be fine,” Holly snapped. “You’ve said that twice already.” I snorted but nodded.

 

Home was less than ten minutes away now. I could see the lights of the town in the distance. I was desperate to get out of this damn van and I would not step back inside it until James had had the damn thing checked completely. Hell, I would pay for it to have an early MOT if need be. Something was wrong.

 

“Can I have my phone,” Holly said. Amy handed it to her.

 

“What did you find?” I asked clearing my throat.

 

“A picture of the officer who died,” Holly shrugged. “It’s an old picture but it could have been our guy from earlier.”

 

“Yeah right,” I said.

 

“No, it could have been, let me find it again.” Holly started fussing with her phone. I turned my full attention back to the road. I touched the accelerator gently, eager to be home and safe.

 

“You shouldn’t do that,” Holly said, her voice sounded and strange.

 

“I’m being careful,” I said.

 

“I hate drunk drivers!” Holly snapped suddenly. I frowned and glanced at her, she was glaring at me.

 

“Holly?” I said. She blinked and the glare vanished.

 

“What?” she said. I slowed the van as we entered the town. “Oh, I found the picture. But it’s on a different article.” I turned onto the main high street that ran along the river. “This one’s much more comprehensive.”

 

“Fascinating,” I muttered. I touched the brake again and my blood went cold when I felt it stick. “Oh shit,” I whispered and pushed harder. It didn’t move. I heard a click and the pressure of my seatbelt eased. I frowned, as the belt came off and got caught on my arm.

 

“Says he was killed in a hit and run, trying to pull over some teens that had been drinking,” Holly said.

 

“Did someone touch my seat belt?” I said.

 

“No,” Sam said.

 

“They were arrested later.” Holly continued. “The cop was taken to hospital but died of his injuries.” I tested the brake again, it didn’t respond. I took off the accelerator, we continued at speed.

 

“Guys,” I said hitting the brake again and getting no response. The van started to speed up despite me not touching the accelerator. “Guys the brakes stuck again!” I snapped. The steering wheel tugged suddenly to the right. My palms burned at the friction and I shouted. The van swerved into the wrong lane. I wrestled with my seatbelt which was still caught by my arm. I freed it and it came off completely.

 

“Lucy!” Holly snapped, Amy and Chloe screamed. I pulled as hard as I could to the left but the van kept veering right. We bounced up onto the pavement and were inches away from hitting the shops. A couple walking down the path yelled and dove out of the way.

 

“Lucy!” Amy screamed. I pulled on the steering wheel with all of my strength. It gave suddenly and I toppled to the left hitting the gearstick hard with my chest. The van swerved out into the road. We clipped a lamppost and the van went into a spin. I couldn’t make sense of what happened, we were going so fast. I heard everyone screaming. There was a deafening crash and I flew forwards.

 

I don’t remember hitting the windscreen, or going through it. I don’t remember landing in the middle of the road. I do remember lying on the wet tarmac. My chest felt like there was something heavy sitting on me, I couldn’t breathe. I tried to move but my legs didn’t work. I looked at the van, imbedded in a parked car. It took me a few moments to realise I could hear the tires screeching. There was a horrendous sound of metal scraping on metal before a bang as the van freed itself from the parked car. I watched the van and even through the smashed windshield I could see there was someone else in the driver’s seat. I recognised the driver, Miles Green. I watched as the van reversed away from the parked car, it continued to reverse gathering speed.

 

“No,” I said watching as it got closer to the river than ran through the town. The van hit the flood wall with a sound like a bomb going off, and went right through into the river. I heard Holly screaming as the van disappeared under the water.

 

“I hate drunk drivers,” a mans voice said behind me. I tried to turn my head but couldn’t. He walked around me.

 

“I ...I wasn’t...” I tried to speak but the pressure on my chest made it impossible to breathe.

 

“Don’t lie to me,” he said. He leaned forward, his hand coming up to my face, covering my mouth and pinching my nose. “I hate drunk drivers.”

 

 

 

Katie Marie is a small noisy creature currently living on the Norfolk coast in the UK. She has been published in several anthologies, and her first novel Grey Wings was published by Dream State Drive in 2013. Her second novel is due to be released in 2017. You can find her at www.katiemariewriter.co.uk